By Timothy Miller, PT, DPT, EdD, GCS | February 8, 2021
Fulfilling the requirements of contemporary expertise for all subjects in an entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) curriculum is a challenging responsibility experienced by many DPT programs. This is especially prevalent for content under the umbrella of foundational sciences. To intensify the challenge, those with contemporary expertise in the subject matter may not be physical therapists and may struggle to relate the content to physical therapy practice. These challenges are faced by many faculty members and programs.
It was these challenges, along with the dedication to curricular excellence and the drive to decrease variability of DPT education led to the Rehab Essential’s University Licensing program. These budget friendly, pre-developed courses provide DPT programs an opportunity to integrate physical therapists with contemporary expertise into their curriculum. The flexibility of using this interactive content delivered by world-class experts, who often wrote the textbook on the subject, allows DPT programs to thoughtfully utilize content experts in a manner that best fits the individual needs of each program. In addition to the catalog of courses, Rehab Essentials has a team of distance education experts to ensure courses reflect contemporary online learning practices and content. These online learning experts have also provided personalized on-boarding and consultation to facilitate the integration of Rehab Essentials content into various curricula.
DPT programs have integrated the content offered by Rehab Essentials in a variety of exciting ways. Many programs thread the content throughout their program to best match the sequencing of the curriculum, while others have used the content to serve as stand-alone courses. It is because of this versatility that Rehab Essential courses are now used in over 20% of DPT programs across the country.
